Actress wants to be taken seriously

Monday

Mar 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 31, 2008 at 10:35 AM

The star of Blue Crush (2002), Beyond the Sea (2004) and Superman Returns (2006) might be beautiful, smart and accomplished, but she doesn't like to be stereotyped. Use the phrase "dream girl," and Kate Bosworth snaps back.

The star of Blue Crush (2002), Beyond the Sea (2004) and Superman Returns (2006) might be beautiful, smart and accomplished, but she doesn't like to be stereotyped. Use the phrase "dream girl," and Kate Bosworth snaps back.

"Which films are you talking about?"

Well, her new film, 21, in which she plays a glamorous college student involved in a Las Vegas blackjack scam.

"OK," Bosworth admits after a pause, "but don't generalize."

Obviously the actress is tired of hearing about how attractive she is.

"Things are changing slightly," she says, "but they need to change a lot more. I think the feminist struggle is beginning in a new wave."

The 25-year-old Bosworth is doing her part to improve women's roles.

"I felt lucky with 21 because Sony Pictures allowed me to become a collaborator," Bosworth says. "I was able to give my character a struggle. The fact that her father was a gambler, which is why she has a problem, wasn't in there at the beginning."

21, which also stars Kevin Spacey and Jim Sturgess, takes off from a true story about a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who perfected a way to beat casinos at blackjack. Spacey plays their unorthodox math professor; Sturgess, a brilliant student who needs money to pay for medical school; and Laurence Fishburne, a casino enforcer. Bosworth plays Jill, who helps lure Ben (Sturgess) into the scheme.

Although the film is a caper in the style of Ocean's Eleven (2001), it has more of a serious undertone, which appealed to Bosworth.

She has mixed light roles in films such as Blue Crush and Win a Date With Tad Hamilton (2004) with darker dramas such as The Rules of Attraction (2002) and Wonderland (2003).

"I am attracted to darker material," Bosworth says, "even though people try to categorize me in a different way and don't expect that from me.

"I've just optioned a book, Lost Girls and Love Hotels, because I fell in love with the story," she says. "What's so exciting to me is to not be controlled by the industry but to be a part of it and start controlling my own career. That's so stimulating and inspiring."